There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL) novel Chapter 174

Chapter 174: Chapter 168. Mind Corrosion

With a start, the blue eyes opened and the sphere clanked against the inside of the tubes.

Zein stumbled back, crashing to the floor and gasping for air. He could vaguely hear sounds, voices from the speaker, but his ears were still ringing and buzzing and he still wanted to pour his stomach content into the floor.

He crawled to the wall, propped himself up, and punched his mask open to breathe. The tube had been closed shut again, fortunately, so he didn’t have to ingest raw miasma fog into his lungs. He wanted to take some Golden Needle right now, but the stuff and the lighter were in his coat outside, and there was something more important he needed to do right now.

After he felt like he had stopped choking, Zein pushed his body up and slammed his fist on the communication button.

[Sir--]

"Record," Zein growled into the microphone, and he heard silence for two seconds--two excruciating seconds--before he heard clicking noises from the operation room.

[Recording]

"Subject; Vision. Location; Deathzone," Zein paused to take a breath, before continuing. "A scene of miasmic beasts marching together into one specific location. The estimated number is between 300-400 above ground. The observed types are as followed..."

And then Zein proceeded to mention every kind of beast he managed to recognize during his vision, including the likelihood of Specter-type as the commander.

"The marching beasts are heading toward a specific direction, in which a creature of a higher level resides. Said creature finds out my presence and calls me a spy."

Zein paused here, as he found it got a little harder to breathe now, probably because he didn’t allow himself to rest properly. But he wanted to get everything out of his memory before his crappy brain decided to forget some details.

And before his mind was riddled with the other thing happening in his mind.

[Sir...this is...is this true?]

Zein looked up with a deadpan stare. Did he look like someone who would stay there and choose to hold an impromptu audiobook concert?

[I...I’m sorry, Sir, please continue...]

[No--can’t you continue after you come out, for fuck’s sake?] this time, it wasn’t the operator, but the Chief Researcher Fei.

Zein waved his hand dismissively instead, and continued to speak into the microphone.

"Speculation; high possibility of communication between Specter’s cores regardless of locations. Requesting deployment of isolation barrier on every core."

Another silence, and then a series of cursing as the Chief Researcher gave out some orders to the espers and the guards. Zein used the time to take another deep breath and continued after a short rest.

"The core...attacks soul space," he closed his eyes, and gripped the table hard to prevent himself from shaking. "Esper protects their soul with mana, because it overlaps with their mana cores. Civilians had no such protection, so the miasma attacks their souls, straight to their minds. Use...mental healing...for the comatose researcher..."

[Fine, alright, we’ll do it! Now can you get out of there and let yourself get fixed?!]

"Yes..."

[Thank you!]

Fei’s aggressive remark came with the hissing sound of the opening door. Now that the adrenaline had left him, Zein didn’t feel particularly fatigued--unlike how he usually felt after looking at the vision from the shards. Probably because rather than seeing a recording of the past, he just saw what currently happening.

As the doctor examined his vitals, some espers from the security team came and talked to him about the isolation barrier. They sent four magician-type espers to put on isolation barrier magic on each of the tubes then. Seeing that the process was instantly approved, it was either Radia already gave them authority to act without his golden seal, or he already knew what just happened.

But Zein couldn’t afford to worry about getting chewed right now. He just wanted to crawl into a corner and smoked his Golden Needle. Which was exactly what he did after the doctor and the healer declared he was fine. He went to the little bedroom near the shard room, the one he used the first time, and just leaned against the wall, pulling his knees close to his chest, and biting on the mana stick.

Because contrary to what the doctor and the healer said, Zein wasn’t fine.

He was trembling worse than the day he heard the story about his father. He was trembling so much he could hardly keep the stick between his fingers. He would inhale, and then proceed to choke on the leftover smoke.

He wanted to just dove beneath the blanket and curled himself there for eternity. He wondered if he would feel better when he slept it off, but he was afraid he would see them again in his dream. His mother, his father, his brothers...Bassena.

"Haa..." the blue eyes flickered, as Zein slammed his head against the wall. It hurt, but he regained a bit of sanity at least.

Zein took a deep breath, and took the suspended hand into his own, holding it and feeling the warmth spreading into his skin. "Sorry," he frowned, pressing his lips hard as he felt the esper’s hand. "I’m just...I need to think..."

He could feel the esper watching him, observing him keenly, perhaps wondering why Zein refuse to look into his eyes. But Zein couldn’t bring himself to look into that amber eyes, which had been haunting him for a while now; that misery and pain in the illusion’s eyes.

"Can I help?" Bassena asked hesitatingly, almost making Zein tremble. "Can you...tell me?"

Bassena shifted closer, and Zein was almost tempted to just lean in and told the esper everything. Or even just seeking the warmth that he had been yearning for since the moment he faced the Specter core. But right now, even the hand he held felt more scalding than warm, as if the touch was punishing.

--how much more will you take advantage of him?

Zein bit his lips to prevent a choked gasp from coming out of his lips. But Bassena leaning closer did not help with his endeavor to manage his agonized heart.

Gods--the man was just so warm and beautiful and his shattering heart just begging to grip that sturdy wall.

If only the illusion did not come flooding in that very moment, crashing into his conscience and laughing at his cruelty, his cowardice.

--Yes, go on. Used this charming, adorable man to your heart’s content

And that was all Zein needed to pull the mental brake, covering the esper’s lips with his fingers. "Not today," he said, quietly, as if he was saying it more to himself than to Bassena.

Gods--he was just so awful.

"Alright," again, like the good, infatuated man that he was, Bassena relented without a fuss. "Not today," he repeated, gently holding the guide’s wrist and kissing the fingers covering his lips.

--How could you? How could you play with this man’s heart?

Zein pressed his lips, staring at the kissed fingers as he fight the desire between just replacing it with his lips or pulling his hand off completely. Thankfully, he didn’t need to struggle with the decision for long, as the door opened and an unfamiliar voice greeted them.

"Whoa..." the new person, a male esper, stopped at the door and stared at them. But rather than retreating from the room or just coming in, the man just stood there while holding into the door and an impish smile on his face. "Go on, I wanna watch more..."